The Hunter and the Hunted
by OmniShadow
Summary: Alucard may finally have met his match - a real vampire hunter that has always caught his prey, and now has his sights set on Alucard. More chapters comin'...
1. Chapter 1 Alucards Morals

It was a dark, cold night, just the way he liked it. Lots of lonely souls down on the streets below, and the knowledge that he could feed on them, and no one would miss them. Lots of crime going on down on the streets, and the knowledge that he could stop most of it. But he won't, because that isn't part of his "job", unless there are vampires involved, of course. Probably for the better, anyway. He would most likely end up committing a greater crime punishing them, and that would not go over well with the Hellsing Organization. Funny, how that is. The protector of this city happens to be the most evil being taking residence in it. He is one of the only remaining true vampires left in existence. He is the most powerful being known thus far. He is the destroyer of his own kind. He is the invincible force known as Alucard.  
He was just out for a little stroll through the rooftops of the city of London. Even vampires need to get out once in a while, to get some exorcise. Especially for a "soldier" like Alucard, who has to keep his skills in check to complete the tasks that are set out for him by his master, Integra Wingates Hellsing, who also gave him the permission to be out this night, as long as he does not get into trouble. No one knows yet if this is going to happen, even Alucard, because he is unpredictable, even to himself. But Integra decided to be nice enough to let him out this one night to give him the opportunity to get some fresh air (even though vampires don't even need it), and to keep his abilities top-notch.  
But that's not what he's doing. All he's really doing right now is fooling around, flying from rooftop to rooftop, and enjoying the sounds of the people screaming from their own problems (which happens a lot these days in London). He's just enjoying that one night of freedom he gets once every few decades, being able to ream the city, without being called on an assignment, and without really having to worry about his masters protection, simply because she said so.  
So, here he was, roaming the rooftops, looking for something to do, but not allowed to cause any trouble. That's no easy task for someone who is as sick and twisted as Alucard. Oh well, he has his vampire hunting assignments available for him to have that sort of fun.  
But that still left him with nothing to do right now.  
Oh well, maybe I'll luck out and find a vampire to slaughter, he thought to himself. It could happen.  
And it did. He heard a scream. Not just any ordinary scream. This one was different. It seemed to stand out from the rest. It sounded like the woman that was screaming was gagging at the same time. But just slightly, like small amounts of blood was clogging the throat, little by little. He had heard this scream thousands of times in his long life. This scream belonged to the victim of a vampire.  
Even though this was his "night off", he decided to himself that nothing would be more fun to him right now than to make a low-life vampire wannabe suffer for his sins. Now he has his chance.  
Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, he made his way over to the scene as quickly as he could, without spending too much effort (this was his night off after all, and he wanted to save it for the vampire, not that it really mattered for Alucard). When he made it to the rooftop where he heard the scream, he looked straight ahead, and down into the back alley, where a woman in a black and red dress lay on a pool of blood on the ground, with two vampire tooth marks in her neck, and cuts all over her body.  
Next to the gored woman laying there, Alucard spotted a teenager, with ordinary blue jeans, a ripped gray T-shirt, and a black leather jacket crouched down, licking up the blood steadily pouring out from her body.  
This must be an unpopulated area of the city, Alucard thought, if this low-life scumbag could get away with this.  
Alucard jumped down to the street, right where the vampire could see him (if he cared, which he didn't), and steadily walked toward the woman's corpse, and the teenage vampire feasting upon it. He then pulled out his .454 Casull gun, and aimed it directly at the head of the vampire.  
"You might want to back away from that body, or you'll be lying right next to her, taking the form of a pile of dust," Alucard said, feeling unusually nice enough to give him a warning before ending his second "life".  
The vampire quickly looked up at Alucard for a second, and went back to his feasting.  
"You know, when a man has a gun aimed directly at your head, it would do you good to listen to him," Alucard said this time, putting a grin on his face.  
The vampire looked up again, for a quicker period of time, and growled at Alucard.  
Ignoring the growl coming from the ignorant teenager, Alucard said, "You do realize that what you did to this human was wrong, don't you?" Alucard was treating him like a six-year-old, and the vampire was getting annoyed, which meant Alucard was achieving his goal.  
"Yeah, so what's your point? Why don't you buzz off? I'm trying to eat here," the arrogant vampire said in a voice that made him sound like he was a gang member.  
"Ah, so you are intelligent enough to speak English. Wonderful. Now, I'm feeling ridiculously generous tonight, so if you back away from the woman, I might let you get away from this with just your arms and legs removed," Alucard replied.  
"You might want to watch it, buddy, or you might be next," the vampire said, in a rather rude voice.  
"Do you have any idea with whom you are talking to, boy?" Alucard said, keeping the vampire in his place.  
"No, but I'm feasting on you next, because you didn't have the sense to run away when you had the chance." The vampire stood up, and leaped over the corpse, directly at Alucard. Alucard, feeling this vampire should live for a little while longer, suffering for his arrogance, aimed for his right shoulder and fired. The teenage vampire fell to the pavement, letting out a loud cry, holding his right shoulder where the bullet pierced him.  
"My name is Alucard. If you would have listened to me the first two times, which is two more chances than I give most low-lives like you, you would have survived this encounter, and eventually become a hero among your kind because of that fact alone."  
"Wh-what are you?" the vampire said, with a great amount of fear in him.  
"I am something you could only dream of becoming. I am a true vampire, not like you self-proclaimed scum-bags that live in my kinds' shadow. You make yourselves feel superior by making lower humans suffer. For that, you do not deserve to live."  
"Then why don't you just kill me, and get it over with?" the vampire said, still in extreme pain from the bullet in his shoulder.  
"Because you deserve to suffer, not just for the death of that woman, but for speaking so rudely to me when I told you to stop celebrating it." Alucard loaded the next bullet into the chamber of his gun, and aimed it at the heart this time.  
"Then just kill me, you bastard!" the vampire yelled as loudly as he could.  
"Very well then." Alucard pulled the trigger, and the vampire was dust, flowing in the wind in a matter of seconds. "You didn't want to listen to me anyway."  
With that, Alucard took a few steps back, and faded back into the shadows behind him.  
  
"Interesting."  
High on the rooftops, higher than Alucard formerly was, a middle-aged man in black stealth gear watched the whole scene through a pair of binoculars. He was speaking to someone through a communicator.  
"Alucard was his name...he had a gun I've never seen before. He used it on that vampire he killed, and it seemed effortless for Alucard..."  
"Yes...as I thought it would be," said the voice on the other side of the transmission. "His abilities are truly extraordinary."  
"There was something that made me feel uncomfortable about him, though."  
"And what was that, aside from everything about vampires that a normal human being would be uncomfortable with?"  
"Well, he seemed disgusted with the vampires actions. He had a sense of justice."  
"Yeah, what's so scary about that?"  
"He didn't seem to care about the woman that died victim to the vampire, and he was more savage that the vampire he was punishing, it seemed."  
"Yes...that is unusual. He must possess some awesome powers if he can pull an attitude like that with his enemies."  
"Then...do you still even want to meet him, sir?" The man on the rooftop seemed a little nervous now, still talking about this.  
"Why, of course. Alucard seems to be a very worthy opponent. We will gather more information, and when the time comes, I will go down in history as the one who finally rid the world of the infamous Alucard." 


	2. Chapter 2 The Gang

It was a cold, dark night, and he didn't really care. The darkness never bothered him, and it would be rather stupid for a man of his status to be bothered by a little cool air. He walked through the streets, acting above the rest of the people because of his status. If they were going by height, he was above most of the people on the streets. He didn't know too many people that were taller than him. But he wasn't just going by height. He thought he was better than everybody. The truth was, he is. Almost. There is one being that he has gone head to head with, many times, but never been able to defeat. He is second only to the one known as the infamous Alucard. Other than Alucard, there was virtually no one who can match him. His name was Alexander Anderson.  
He was just roaming the streets, looking for something to do, until his next assignment. Or until he found Alucard for another rematch. Whichever came first. He was hoping to find Alucard, but it was more likely that he would get another assignment before that could happen. But hey, a man can hope, can't he?  
He walked and walked, practically looking for trouble. Looking for vampires, not just Alucard, but any vampire that he could use his specialized swords on. He had been itching for his next mission where he would be able to do this.  
Anderson had walked almost two miles now.  
As he was walking, Anderson came across a bum on the streets, begging for change. When the bum asked, "Spare change, mister?" Anderson simply replied saying, "May god bless you." He said that to everybody.  
One more mile down the road, Anderson got a call from his superiors. Apparently, there was a gang of vampires making trouble for over a week now, and it can't be tolerated any longer. It was his job to "cleanse" the city of these impure creatures.  
Looks like he has something to do now.  
  
It was a cold, dark night, and she wasn't very comfortable with this temperature, even though she was a vampire. She didn't mind the darkness (she had grown accustomed to it), but for some reason, she had never gotten used to the chill. Even before the infamous Alucard transformed her into a vampire, she never liked cold climates. She had never gotten used to a lot of things, especially the customs of vampires, but there were a lot of advantages to being one, so she never complained. She was fast. She was strong. She was formerly a policewoman. Her name was Ceras Victoria.  
She was on an assignment. Integra had informed her that a gang of vampires were feeding upon several victims over the past week. It was time for the Hellsing agency to take action. And since this was Alucard's "night off", Ceras was stuck with the task of exterminating them.  
So here she was, at the last known place where a human sadly fell victim to this gang. There were four bodies littered throughout this dark alley. One half-hanging out if the dumpster to the side, one sitting up against the wall across from the dumpster, and two more laying around. There were bloodstains everywhere. She found it disgusting.  
She didn't even know why she was here. What good would this do? she thought. They're not gonna come back here. Why would they?  
Oh well, it was worth coming here anyway. She had no other lead to this gang, so she might as well investigate here.  
But as she was walking out of the dark alley, she was confronted by four figures, three males and one female. They were all almost wearing the same thing. All three of the males were wearing ordinary blue jeans, gray shirts, and black leather jackets. The female was wearing blue jeans, a red and white stripped tube-top, and the same leather jacket worn by the other three males.  
"What are you doin' in our alley, little girl?" one of the males asked. This must be the leader, Ceras thought.  
"I'm...investigating a series of crimes committed by a gang of...a gang." Maybe I shouldn't scare them with vampires, Ceras thought.  
"So, we finally got recognized by the news" the leader said. "We're finally famous!" The other three cheered to themselves.  
"I wouldn't see that as a good thing in your position. You wouldn't happen to be...vampires...by any chance, would you?" Ceras knew she probably shouldn't have said that, but she couldn't help it. Besides, if they were, then her job would go along a lot more quickly.  
"How do you know about that?" the leader replied. A look of anger shot across his face.  
"Oh, so you are then? Great. It just happens to be my job to stop you from hurting any more people. And if that means that I have to kill all of you, then so be it." Ceras was in luck today. This was a lot easier than she thought it would be.  
"I'd like to see you try, little girl. Didn't you get me earlier? We are vampires, and we are going to make you suffer before you die." The other three chuckled, and pulled out their weapons. The leader and the female both pulled out switchblades, one of the other males pulled out a chain 6 feet in length, and the remaining male pulled out a wooden baseball bat.  
"That's nice." That's all Ceras really felt she had to say to this. "I'm a vampire too, so you better watch out yourself." She thought it would be fair to warn them.  
As if they didn't care about Ceras' last comment, all four of them charged at her with their weapons in front if them (except for the one with the chain, of course, he was swinging it by his side). Ceras pulled out her pistol, and shot the female in the arm, forcing her to drop her blade, and kneel to the ground holding her arm in pain, instead of continuing her charge.  
The one with the chain reached her next, or rather, the chain reached her next. Thanks to her vampire reflexes, she caught the chain, and thanks to her enhanced strength, she was able to pull the chain out of the wielders' hands with ease. She then whipped the chain around, and knocked the wooden baseball bat out of the hands of the gang member holding it. She then whipped the chain around once more, knocking out the two that she just disarmed before dropping it to the ground.  
Wasn't there four? Ceras thought. Where is the other one?  
It was too late by the time she noticed. The leader came up behind her, and stuck his switchblade up to her neck.  
"Yeah, we're vampires, and we know how hard it is to kill our kind, but one thing that does the trick is a good-old fashioned knife in the neck."  
Ceras really was scared in this position. Fear is not something that she experiences much anymore, but now was one of those times. I might actually die here, she thought.  
The other two males recovered, and the female finally got up from her immense pain.  
"I want to be the one who kills this bitch!" the female shouted. "She got me in the arm. That hurt!" She picked up her blade, and advanced on Ceras.  
The female walked up to Ceras (who was still being held back by the leader), stood two feet away from her, and held the blade up to her heart. She pulled the blade back and...  
Just before she could thrust the blade forward, another (slightly larger) blade came right through her chest, right through her heart, and she fell to the ground, dead. This freaked Ceras out more than the others for two reasons. First, the blade had stopped right before her heart; in fact, she felt the tip against her chest right before the female gang member fell over. Second, she had seen that blade before, on several occasions. It belonged to one man: Alexander Anderson.  
Ceras looked around, and sure enough, just outside the alley, there he stood. His glasses shined from the lamppost near him, and there was a large grin on his face.  
Before the other two gang members could even retaliate, Anderson had two blades thrown right through the middle of their skulls, and they fell over.  
Filled with fear, the leader of the gang pulled the blade closer to Ceras' neck. Anderson started advancing on Ceras and the leader.  
"Don't come any closer, or I'll stick this blade right through her throat!"  
Anderson wasn't worried in any way at all.  
"Go ahead. I don't care at all what happens to her. She is a vampire too, and it would actually be helping me out if you do it. Go ahead, kill her."  
Ceras was more frightened than she could ever remember. Neither one of them cared at all about her life, and the chances were way too high that she would not survive this encounter.  
"But I do want to speak with her for a minute before you decide to feel superior by killing a helpless girl." This comment from Anderson really annoyed Ceras.  
"Well, if you want her to life that long, the I suggest you back the hell off!"  
Anderson still kept advancing. He didn't seem worried in the least bit.  
"Back away from her now, and I might let you have a head start running for your life."  
Ceras had had enough of this. With her vampire speed, she grabbed the knife that was up against her neck, and pulled it away from herself. She then pulled the knife out of his hand, and threw it aside. After the knife was disposed of, she flipped the gang member over her shoulder, right through a blade that Anderson had thrust out, slicing him in half right down the middle.  
After all was said and done, Ceras tried to regain her breath, and Anderson was still standing over her.  
"What do you want with me?" Ceras asked, still wondering why Anderson decided to let her live, considering the fact that she was a vampire.  
"I want to know where your master is hiding. I want a rematch sometime soon. I will rid the world of his presence eventually!"  
"Even I don't know. He's got a night off tonight, so he could be virtually anywhere in the city."  
"Well, when you find him, tell him to meet me...right here." 


	3. Chapter 3 The Endless Duel

And there they were, Ceras Victoria and Alexander Anderson, with Anderson blocking the way for Ceras to get out, simply because he wants yet another duel to the death with her master, Alucard.  
"I will destroy that bastard if it's the last thing I do." Anderson had that grin on his face that made his confidence show.  
"Then why wait? Why not get it over with right now?"  
Anderson looked up to the rooftops to see the dark figure of Alucard. No features could be seen on him, except for his glasses, which reflected the light from the lampposts littered throughout the streets, and his large, ghastly grin. Aside from that, he was nothing but a dark outline.  
"Alucard! For once I'm actually happy to see your wretched face! Get your worthless vampire hide down here and fight me now!"  
"But of course." Alucard went from the rooftop of the building to the street in one leap, landing almost twenty feet away from Anderson. "But first thing's first, let the policewoman go."  
Anderson changed his grin to somewhat of an open-mouthed frown.  
"Fine, but then get over here, so I can plant these blades right through your heart." Anderson quickly signaled for Ceras to get out of the alley, and she ran out toward Alucard.  
"It's okay policewoman. I'll put this idiot in his place...again."  
Alucard raised his .454 Casull, aiming it for Anderson's chest, as Anderson raised two swords (one in each hand) into a cross. Anderson quickly broke his stance for a split-second, threw a smaller knife at Alucard like a dart, and charged at him. Alucard countered this by shooting the knife thrown at him right out of the air, and jumping six feet into the air, right over Anderson, and landing with Anderson right behind him, finishing his charge.  
"Bloody wretched vampire!" Anderson yelled.  
"You say that as if it's an insult." Alucard taunted.  
"It is! Vampires are filthy creatures that do not deserve to live!"  
"And who decides that? You? Hardly. Don't make me laugh!" Alucard finally turned around to see his opponent. "You haven't beaten me once so far, so I see no reason to have to listen to the likes of you."  
"That will change very soon, vampire."  
"What makes you think you will beat me this time, priest? What makes this occasion so special?"  
"You've been lazy lately, from what I've heard from the girl. Taking a free night without working on your skills? Heh. You're bound to slip up tonight."  
"I've been walking on this world for longer than the history of your family name, and I have yet to 'slip up'. Tonight will not be the night that it happens, if it ever does."  
"We shall see."  
Anderson rushed at Alucard yet again. Alucard didn't do anything this time. He just stood there and let his adversary come at him. This time, he retaliated by dashing to the side, and using his incredible speed and reflexes, he grabbed the sword out of Anderson's left hand. After pulling off this feat, he twirled around swiftly, brought up the blade, and blocked the other with it. Alucard had the upper had in skill, as always. He would make sure that he let Anderson know it.  
"It seems that you're the one that's slipping up, priest. You're not even trying, it seems."  
"I'll show you!"  
Anderson brought the blade back, circled it around his head, and tried to bring it down through Alucard's head. But Alucard, seemingly always one step ahead of the priest, simply brought the blade up horizontally, and without much effort, again blocked the blade.  
"I'm still waiting." Alucard still had that ghastly grin on his face, which, at this point in their history with one another, didn't seem to bother Anderson one bit.  
Anderson jabbed his blade at Alucard several times after this, but Alucard just simply slipped them all off. After a while, he just dropped the blade he had swiped from Anderson's hand, and brought his gun up. After a few more slips, Alucard pointed his gun and shot the sword his enemy was holding, shattering it, forcing Anderson to stop his assault.  
"This is beginning to bore me, priest." Alucard said with a slight yawn. "This battle is turning out like all the rest."  
Anderson was getting frustrated. It was turning out like all the rest.  
"It may be, but it only means to me that I am one battle closer to wiping you from existence. I only need to win once, and your wretched soul will be gone forever."  
"Stop dreaming. You and I both know that you will never get the best of me!"  
"Your overconfidence will be the end of you, vampire Alucard. And I will be the one to bring you that end." And with that, several hundred pages of the bible floated out of his coat, and wrapped around him like a tornado. Then the pages all separated and flew of into the wind, and Anderson was gone. No where to be found.  
"Are you alright, policewoman?" Alucard asked Ceras, now that Anderson was out of the way.  
"...Yes. I am not hurt in any way, master." She still had an uncomfortable feeling in her neck from that gang member strangling her with the blade up to her neck, but otherwise, she was okay.  
"Good. It looks like you're going to need more training policewoman, if four fake vampires managed to get the best of you, and especially if you needed the help of that...disgrace of a warriors' help to survive."  
"I'm sorry master. I don't know what happened..."  
"You'd better be. What do you think my master would say if she knew how this happened?"  
Ceras couldn't think of a decent answer.  
"It doesn't matter now. What is done is done now, I suppose. Just don't let it happen again, or I will tell her."  
"Thank you, master."  
"I trust you can take care of yourself now?" After what happened, Alucard was actually worried about the safety of this policewoman.  
"Yes master, I can find my own way back to headquarters." Ceras was getting annoyed, being treated like a child because of this one incident.  
"Very well then. I shall go enjoy the rest of my night." And with that, Alucard faded away into the shadows.  
  
"Did you see that, sir?"  
"Yes. His abilities are extraordinary indeed."  
High up on the rooftops, a man in a black stealth suit, different from the one before, had been watching the whole fight between Alucard and Alexander Anderson, and he also had a camera set up next to him, recording the whole thing. The man on the other end of the communicator was watching the fight through the camera.  
"I don't know sir. This vampire may actually have what it takes to get the better of you. You saw how fast and skillful he was."  
"That does not worry me one bit. He is still a vampire, and that puts him at quite a large disadvantage already." The man on the other side of the communicator did not seem to show any emotion in what he was saying. No fear, anger, joy, or hate. He just said what he said in a very neutral voice.  
"I am aware of that sir, but this Anderson character looked like he had tools on him that were specially designed to use against vampires as well, but this...Alucard got the better of him without even seemingly trying." The man on the rooftop didn't want to anger his boss, but he really was concerned about what his boss was getting into.  
"Yes, I know. I know of Anderson. I have been watching him for quite some time as well. He is no match for this vampire, and he never will be."  
"And you think you are sir? I don't mean to say that you're weak or anything, but Alucard is by far the most powerful being we have ever come across."  
"That is what makes it so interesting. In all my years doing what I'm doing, I have never failed. This vampire will be no different. I will catch him, and I will destroy him."  
"...Yes sir. Do you have enough information yet to make your move?"  
"Almost. My time to strike is near. Alucard will finally have met his match!"  
  
Ceras didn't know what to think. How could I have let four measly teenage vampires get the best of me, she thought. What's wrong with me lately?  
She decided to walk around for a while, trying to get that catastrophe out of her head. It was embarrassing even to think about. She would get to the subway that would take her back to the Hellsing Organization headquarters eventually, but she just had to walk around for a while to get these things out of her mind, even though she knew they wouldn't.  
So, she just decided to make her way to the subway, so she could go home and get some rest in her coffin. That's probably what's best for her right now.  
Despite feeling all of this shame, Ceras couldn't find any reason to be in this place any more, and she worked her way to the subway to catch her ride home. 


	4. Chapter 4 Inside Feelings

There she stood, by the open window, with her long blonde hair flowing in the wind coming in. She just stood there, motionless, staring out into the nothingness beyond the window, the clear of night.

She was waiting for the night to come to and end, so Alucard could return to her side in the castle. Even though she would never admit it, she somewhat enjoyed his company. It made her feel more comfortable, more secure, and she had never noticed it this much until Alucard finally left her side for this night.

Oh well, she still had Walter to protect her if need be. But it still wasn't the same. Alucard had something in him that Walter didn't. There were many things that made them different, but she was still uncertain what it was, even after all these years.

The door opened at the other side of the room, and Walter walked in with a bottle of wine in his hands, looking concerned for his master.

"Hello madam Integra. I have your wine. Where do you want it?"

"Just put it on the desk." Integra pointed to her desk just behind her.

"Yes ma'am." Walter walked over to the desk, and gently placed the bottle on the desk. He looked at her for a moment.

"You look troubled. Could it be that Alucard's absence is bothering you? Do you miss him?" Walter had not seen his master like this for quite some time.

"...No. He is only gone for one night. Why would I care that he's gone?" Integra said this because she didn't want to show any signs of weakness, even if they were only emotional.

"I see. Very well then. Is there anything else I can get you?" Walter knew him master was lying, but he didn't want to point it out, because she looked like she had enough on her mind as it is.

"No, I'm fine Walter. Thanks anyway. Now may I be left alone?"

"Of course. Just call if you need anything." And with that, Walter bowed and left the room.

Integra stood by the window for a moment longer, and then walked over to the desk, popped open the bottle, and poured herself a glass. She drank it slowly, savoring the taste. Halfway through the bottle, she sensed a movement through the shadows in the corner of the room, and she instantly knew what it was.

"You're back early, Alucard." She felt happier that he was back somehow, but as usual, did not express this emotion physically.

Alucard popped his head out of the darkness, upside down. "I was getting bored. Did you miss me?" Alucard had the usual smile on his face.

"No. Did you enjoy your night off?"

"As a matter of fact, I did. How did the policewoman's assignment go?" He knew everything that happened, but he asked Integra this to see how much _she_ knew.

"Don't play that act with me, Alucard. I know everything that happened, including Alexander Anderson's involvement. You weren't supposed to get yourself in any trouble."

Alucard slowly flew his whole body out of the darkness, turned himself around, and landed standing on the floor. "I couldn't help it. He had the policewoman trapped."

"You still didn't have to go to him. If you hadn't shown up, he probably would have just let her go and waited for another day."

"Well, he might have killed her, too. Besides, he saved her from the gang of vampires, so putting him in his place yet again was the least I could do to repay him." Alucard grinned to himself at the humor of his statement.

"This is not a humorous matter, Alucard. This pointless rivalry has made you more and more careless every time you fight him. This is why I had second thoughts about letting you loose for one night." Integra was steadily raising her voice.

"I was careful. It was an unpopulated street. There were no witnesses. Even _he_ knew that." Alucard broke his grin to make it look less like he was taunting his masters' authority.

"That's not what the problem is."

Alucard had a look of mockery on his face. He knew what she was getting at. "Please, don't insult me. He will never be able to match up to me. No human will."

"It's that attitude that will be your downfall."

"This 'attitude' has gotten me as far as I am today. I have faced many followers of god, and none of them have come even close to defeating me. This one is no different."

"Whatever you say, Alucard. I can already see that you aren't going to take caution no matter what I say to you." Integra had given up on trying to get through to him.

Alucard shrugged. "No, probably not." That look of mockery had returned to his face.

"Then you are dismissed. I have nothing more to tell you." Integra's voice started to sound firm again.

Alucard stood there for a moment, and then faded away into the shadows, teleporting himself to his chambers in the basement of the castle.

And so Integra just stood there again, alone, slowly drinking her wine.

The last two hours on the subway car had been torture inside of Ceras Victoria, feeling ashamed of her mistake, and concerned about her punishment should Integra know about this. She opened the front door to the mansion, and poked her head through, trying to see if anyone was there. No one in sight. She slowly moved her whole body through the door, hoping that no one would enter the main hallway that she was going into. When she finally got through the door, she quietly made her way to the entrance to her chambers, where she could take a hopefully long rest inside of her coffin.

Ceras had kept walking, and when she was halfway down the hall, she was confronted by Walter.

"Is something the matter, Ms. Victoria?" Walter was concerned about her.

"No...it's nothing important." Ceras hung her head slightly, and Walter could see it. "I'm fine..."

"There is no need to be worried about what happened earlier," Walter said. "We all mess up sometimes. There's no need to make such a big deal out of it."

"You...you mean you know about it?" Ceras was really worried about what Integra was going to do now. "Does that mean Integra knows about too?" She already knew the answer, but she had that small sense of hope in her.

"...Yes, I'm afraid she does. But don't worry. Integra has already decided not to punish you in any way for this incident, since no one got hurt, except the gang, of course. Alucard is the one who is likely to be punished, because of _his_ little incident with Alexander Anderson. You, my dear, have nothing at all to really worry about."

Ceras was relieved somewhat to hear of this, but still had a little feeling of shame in her for managing to mess it up in the first place.

"Thank you, Walter. You have been a great help." She meant it. She can now sleep a little easier, just because of a few words from this butler.

"You are very welcome, Ceras. Now, if you don't mind, I have other matters to attend to at the moment, so I will leave you now, and wish you a good night." And with that, Walter walked off to complete his other errands for the day.

Ceras worked her way down the rest of the hall, taking longer than usual to make it to her room. She didn't know how to feel at this point. She was happy that she wasn't going to get punished, but still a little sad still at the fact that after all the missions that she's been on, she was brought to her knees by a four member gang of vampires. She eventually made it to her room, and without doing anything else at all, she walked over to her coffin, crept inside, and went to sleep rather quickly.

Walter walked down to Alucard's chambers, and knocked on the door to his private room. There was no response, but a few seconds later, Alucard just appeared next to him.

"Hello Walter. What do you want?" It was one of those rare times that Alucard didn't have a smile on his face.

"I was just wondering if there was anything you wanted, Alucard." Walter was wondering if Integra decided to punish Alucard in some way or not.

"No, I'm fine for now." Alucard thought for a split-second. "There's another reason that you came down here to see me, isn't there?"

Walter seemed to ignore him, even though he was right. "How was your free night out? Did you enjoy yourself?"

"...Yes, but I still think there's something else you're here to see me about. I know you better than that, Walter."

"Yes, I suppose you're right. I wanted to talk to you about Ceras."

"The policewoman? What is there to talk about? Everyone makes mistakes. Except me, of course." Alucard was laughing to himself on the inside. "But even I made mistakes in my early years. So what's the big deal?"

"The poor girl was fear-stricken, and I don't think it was all worrying about what Integra was going to do to her for her near-failure. There is something on her mind, and I think we should pull her from receiving assignments until she gets this figured out. I personally think someone should talk to her, but I guess it's your call, Alucard, since you are her master.

"I think she just needs some alone-time for herself. I will talk to my master about giving it to her. Is this all you wanted to discuss?"

"...Yes, pretty much."

"Then, if you'll excuse me old friend, I also wish to be left alone for the meantime. If I need anything, I will get it myself." And with that, Alucard faded away back to his private chambers.


	5. Chapter 5 Confrontation

It was a dark, cold night, and it didn't really matter to him. Only one thing was on his mind right now: Alucard.

That's all that he exists for right now. To destroy the atrocity that no one has truly conquered to this day. It is everything that is on his mind right now. Everything that he has prepared for. And it's going to happen tonight.

He just sits on the roof and watches, or rather, he waits. He does not need to watch, just to feel. He is able to sense evil coming miles away. It won't be a hard task to find Alucard. It would be an embarrassment not to see an evil that great not coming with his abilities.

He wore a brownish-black trench coat that went down almost to his ankles, with a simple black shirt and black jeans under it, with long, dark boots that ended halfway from his feet to his knees. He had very little facial hair (it was barely noticeable on the lower half of his face), and hair flowing back just down below his shoulders. And his eyes...there was something odd about them. The pupils were completely black. Just large, black dots in white eyes. Those eyes were watching, watching for his prey. They were always so cold...

He had many gadgets in his trench coat and the belt he wore, as well as many other places where a weapon could be stored. He had several guns on him, as well as a sword strapped to his back outside of his coat. He had specialized knives capable of injuring even vampires like Alucard, as well as many other chaos-inducing gadgets at his disposal.

He had waited almost all night now. It was near midnight, and he was starting to wonder if Alucard was even going to show up.

He had just remembered now that Alucard wasn't going to show up unless there was a good reason for him to. _How unprofessional_, he thought to himself, _to forget such a basic thing. I've been away from this for too long._

Well then, he would just have to start something worthy of Alucard's appearance.

He swiftly moved (which was something he hadn't done for hours), and jumped directly forward, and off the roof he was standing on. On his way down to ground level, he pulled a little silver ball with a red glow out from his belt, and threw it down at the ground with great force. When the silver ball hit the ground, it shattered like glass, and large flames erupted from it, blanketing the road and spreading fast. Cars blew up all over the place randomly, lampposts were falling over, and windows were shattering on buildings everywhere within one mile now.

"It's only a matter of time now," he said to himself.

Ceras Victoria had been resting for almost twenty-four hours straight now. She had just woken up. Integra had given her a full day to rest. _She's been rather nice lately, giving everyone days off this often like this_, she thought to herself.

As if on cue to her thoughts, someone was knocking at her door.

"Come in."

She was rather surprised to see when Integra herself had walked through the door to her room. She tried to get up to stand at attention.

"At ease, Ceras Victoria. You may still rest if you wish."

"No, actually I'm fine now." She sat still in her coffin, thinking about why Integra would be visiting her at this time. "If there is another assignment already, I would be happy to do it." Ceras was feeling nervous about what she had said after she said it, but there was nothing she could really do about it now.

"Are you completely sure? Because I'm willing to let you rest more if you need it. The last thing we need is a repeat of what happened on your last mission." Integra thought Ceras needed more rest, but she was willing to trust her.

Ceras hesitated for a moment, and finally answered: "Yes, I'm sure. What is the mission?"

Ceras stood just outside of a tremendous fire that looked like it had been burning for a while, because the whole street had been trashed, and everything flammable had been charred to almost nothing by now. Only the cars and the lampposts remained at this point.

_I just had to insist on taking this mission_, Ceras thought to herself.

There were fire trucks littered all over the streets trying to put out the fire. Ceras couldn't help but feel sorry for them. They had a lot of work set out for them. This fire must stretch out for the next square mile.

Fire trucks...they were everywhere, but there were no firemen in the area. Ceras couldn't help but wonder why this was.

She moved a little closer into the inferno that was engulfing everything. About halfway in, she could see a fireman running out of a patch of flames.

"Help me! He's going to..."

Before the man could even finish, a black streak of light flashed past him, and his stomach was split open, with blood pouring out of it, and the fireman slumped to the pavement.

The black flash still kept moving after this, and streaked above Ceras, slicing a piece of concrete off of the corner of the building next to her. The large chunk of the building was falling directly above her, and it was moving too fast. She wasn't going to be able to move out of the way long enough...

Ceras heard a loud gunshot fire, and the boulder above her shattered into many pieces. The many pieces of rock all fell to the ground around her, but none of them touched her. She only knew of one being with _that_ kind of aim.

"Master...?"

"Are you alright, policewoman?" Alucard walked into the fray from between two patches of flames, holding his 13mm Jackal in his right hand.

"Yes master. But something else is in this area, and it's killing all of the firemen that come near here. It doesn't seem to want the fire to go out..."

"Yes, I know. Just relax for now, policewoman. I'll handle things for here on. This is more than just your average fire." That freakish grin broke across Alucard's face as he said this.

He quickly looked around, trying to spot that flash again that attacked Ceras. Finally, after a while, he raised his Jackal, and aimed it in the opposite direction to him from where Ceras was standing, just outside the circle of rocks.

"You're pretty fast, aren't you?" he said, narrowing his eyes, keeping the grin on his face.

There was no answer from the blur, but it stopped moving now, right in the middle of the road, and took the form of the man in the black trench coat, with his back to Alucard, and his blade in his hand. He slowly turned around, and brought his blade up in a stance. Alucard didn't move a muscle from where he was.

"You must've wanted attention if you started this fire and tried so hard to keep the nice firemen from putting it out. Killing them wasn't really necessary." Alucard had a look of disgust on his face for the mans actions.

"I know, but it was fun doing so. And yes, attention is what I wanted. _Your_ attention. And your attention is what I got."

"And what is it that you want with me?" Alucard asked, curious.

"You're life, dear Alucard. I am a hunter, a true vampire hunter. And you are my next target. I always catch my prey. You will be no exception, Alucard."

"Ha! You think you are the first hunter that I have encountered over the ages? You think you are the first one to have said that to me? You are all the same."

Alucard was getting amused by this. He aimed his Jackal for the man's head, and fired. The man swung his blade across his body with lightning speed, and deflected the bullet.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Alucard."

"I admit, you're good. I can already see that you have more skill than three quarters of the hunters I've met." Alucard chuckled to himself.

"I'll take that as a compliment from an adversary then. Now, if you don't mind, I've got plans for what to do with your head, so can we get this over with today?"

Alucard was a little insulted by the man's ignorance. "Fine then."

The man brought his blade behind him, and charged at Alucard with blinding speed. When he reached Alucard, he jabbed the blade forward twice, and then slashed it horizontally. Alucard slipped the first two jabs, and countered the slash by jumping in the air, stepping onto the blade with one foot in mid-slash, kicking off, and doing a back flip landing back on the ground. The whole thing happened in not even three seconds, but Alucard's landing off the blade seemed to happen in slow motion.

As Alucard was landing, the man brought his blade up, and quickly jabbed him again, giving Alucard a small scar on his left shoulder, before he could dodge.

"Hmm... not bad, for a mortal," Alucard said to the man.

"I am no mortal," the man simply said, with a serious tone in his voice. "The dark lord has been waiting for you for far too long now, and I have been spit out from hell with the assignment to bring you back with me."

"Well he's going to be waiting a lot longer then." Alucard then summoned up his power to close the small wound that his opponents' blade did to his shoulder, and was surprised to find out that it would not close. "What the hell is this?"

"Yes, that's the power of this blade. If it cuts you, you won't be healing it so quickly. It will take as long to heal as if you were a mortal."

It became one of those rare times where Alucard had a serious look on his face. "So, you really are serious about this. I can see already that you will be a worthy opponent. This will be interesting."

Alucard pulled his other gun out of his coat with his left hand, and his rival put his sword away and brought two guns out from his trench coat that Alucard couldn't recognize. They looked like normal handguns, no bigger than Alucard's. It was at this point that Alucard realized that he didn't know this mans name.

"By the way, do you go by any name?"

"No, not anymore. But if you really must know what my name _was_, you may refer to me as...Raven."

And there they were, standing in the middle of an inferno that neither of them cared to put out, ready to do battle, with Ceras watching them from across the street. It was going to get hot.


	6. Chapter 6 OffGuard Defeat

The streets were in flames. Everything that made up this neighborhood was getting scorched, and there was no living thing that existed within this mile-wide inferno.

Except 3 people.

One was the most powerful vampire to ever have lived. His name is Alucard, and he is believed to be a true immortal. No one to this day has been able to stand up to him and live. It's a good thing he's fighting for the good side.

The second was former policewoman Ceras Victoria. She is a servant to the almighty Alucard, after her life was saved by him. She is also one of the only remaining true vampires. She has had the honor of fighting by his side.

The third person in the trio was the one who had created the fire in the first place. He was a hunter that went by the name of Raven, and he had his sights on making Alucard his next trophy. The scary part was that so far, he's shown that he might have the power to do so.

Alucard and Raven were standing, facing each other about four car lengths away from each other. Ceras was across the street (probably for the better), with the privilege of watching what was going to happen next. The two men were going to duke it out. Both of them seemed to be waiting for the other to make the first move.

Both men had a tremendous amount of self-discipline, but, being a hunter for countless years, Raven had more.

Therefore, Alucard ended up being the one to make the first move. He was holding both of his guns at his side, his 13mm Jackal in his right hand, and his .454 Casull in his left. He brought up his Casull, and dove to his right into a dark alley (out of the sight of his opponent), firing off two shots at the hunter while doing so. Raven rolled out of the way to his right, dodging the bullets with ease, and after doing exactly 2 full turns, he stopped.

In the next fraction of a second, Raven sensed Alucard way above him. _Probably teleported onto the roof_, he thought.

Sure enough, when he pinpointed his senses, he saw in his minds eye that Alucard was on the roof of the three-story building to his left.

Half a second after he stopped spinning, Raven brought up the gun that was in his left had, and fired directly at Alucard. "You're going to have to do better than that, vampire. Oh, by the way, all of my weapons are specialized in the same way that my blade was. So I would try not to get hit, if I were you."

Alucard caught that comment just in time to quickly sidestep to his right to dodge the bullet. Good thing too, because he was going to let it hit him, since normal bullets are usually not even worthy for him to laugh off.

Despite how dangerous the situation was (even for himself), Alucard was enjoying this. He had not had a good challenging fight in a long time.

Raven fired off several more rounds from his gun, directly at Alucard. Alucard turned to his right, and ran across the edge of the rooftop. The bullets all went whizzing right behind him, and a couple of them even put holes in his trench coat, which was fluttering behind him as he ran. When he got to the end of the rooftop, he turned to his opponent's direction, and leapt high into the air, across the street, and landed on a rooftop behind and to the right of where raven was standing. When he landed, he spun, and squeezed a few shots off from his Casull at Ravens direction. With lightning fast reflexes, Raven dropped the gun in his right hand, pulled his sword out of the sheathe on his back, and deflected the bullets, returning the sword to his holding place and grabbing his gun back before it hit the ground after it was all said and done.

"This is the most fun I've had in decades, hunter," Alucard shouted. He jumped off the rooftop he was standing on, and landed on the street right across the road from where the hunter was standing.

"Yes, and you've been a most worthy opponent, vampire Alucard. But this has to end now." Raven pulled both of his guns out of their holsters, and held them at his sides.

"I agree." Alucard put his Casull away, took off his hat, and threw it over to where Ceras was standing. After this he pulled out his gun again, and by that time Raven was already on the move. He moved as fast as he did when him and Alucard first met. Fast enough so that only a black blur was seen in his place.

Alucard stood still. Guns at his side, he didn't move a single muscle, except for his eyes, which were following the black blur that was flying all over the place around him. When he felt the time was right (which was always accurate for Alucards case), he aimed his Jackal up and to the right of him, and fired. He didn't exactly hit Raven himself, but loud grunt was heard, and one of his guns fell to the street in several pieces.

It was then that the black blur stopped moving. He stopped near where his gun landed, about two car lengths from it.

Alucard quickly looked at Raven's left hand. That was the hand with the missing gun, and where Alucard had aimed. _Good_, Alucard thought, _I'm not getting sloppy after all._

The next thing that happened actually surprised Alucard, which was really something miraculous, because Alucard did not get surprised often. Raven held out his left hand in a position as if he were still holding his gun, and the gun came back to him in all the pieces. They all just…put themselves back together in his hand. It was like the gun was fixing itself. But Alucard knew it was all Ravens doing. When the gun was put back together the way it was, he did not move his arm at all. It was already aiming directly at Alucard.

"Impressive trick, human. With every passing second, you continue to amaze me."

"I told you before, I'm not a simple human." At saying the last word in his sentence, Raven fired from his gun directly at Alucards heart, if he had a heart, that is.

Of course, Alucard was more than quick enough to respond to this. He shifted his Jackal over, and fired directly at the bullet coming toward him. His bullet hit head-on with Ravens, and they both went flying off in different directions. One of them almost hit Ceras (Ravens bullet), but she was quick enough to get out of the way in time.

"Then what are you?" Alucard fired off his Jackal. "A dog?" The bullet went whizzing by Ravens ear as Alucard fired another shot at him. "A human?" This bullet was close, as Raven had to slip out of the way to dodge this bullet. Alucard fired again. "A monster?" His third bullet destroyed the gun in Ravens right hand this time. Alucard enjoyed that moment on so many levels. He had given that speech to Alexander Anderson once, as he blew off both of the priests' arms and left him to do nothing but retreat for the day.

"I am all and none of those. Not that it's any of your business anyway, vampire." Raven did the same thing as before. He reformed his gun, but this time, it happened with blinding speed this time, and before Alucard could react properly, a bullet was fired from that gun. Alucard did catch it, but not quite fast enough to get completely out of the way. He ducked away and leapt to the side, but the bullet caught him in the left shoulder, where the hunter's blade had caught him earlier. Alucard let out a loud growl of pain at this wound.

"You bastard!" For once in a very long time, Alucard was serious, and was really angered by the hunter.

"Ha! That wound with be with you for a while, vampire. Now you can experience the pain mortals are forced to go through when receiving wounds like that!" Raven kept his arms at his sides now, letting Alucards pain drag out a little longer.

Alucards thoughts raced through his mind in a panic. _I…can't feel my arm! Damn, that hurts! The hunter will pay for this with more than his life! _This had been the first time since he could remember that he had to endure such physical pain. He did not want to be here anymore. He was ashamed for his current thoughts. He wanted to retreat for now, and rest until he was better, instead of finishing his opponent off. He was actually worried that he might lose this battle if he were to stay around for any longer. So Alucard had to swallow his pride, and do the only thing he could do to survive.

"Policewoman! Come over here now!"

Ceras was a little confused at first as to her masters' actions. This was an intense fight; exactly the way Alucard had liked it. He wasn't thinking of bailing out, was he?

"What the hell are you waiting for? Get over here!"

Ceras didn't think twice about it this time. She ran over to her master as fast as she could, dodging a small blade that had been thrown at her halfway. As soon as she came within range of physical contact, Alucard opened his trench coat, created a pitch-blackness within himself, and pulled Ceras into it. After this was done, he closed the trench coat, ran to the nearest dark alley (which was difficult at first due to the fire lighting everything up), and used the darkness to teleport himself far away from where he was.

The hunter knew this was going to happen even before Alucard thought of it, but he let them go. He had already proven to himself that he was able to best Alucard in battle, so there was no worry. Half the fun in his job was the hunt itself. He gathered up all of his weapons on the site, put them away, and was about to leave, when he spotted a blade sticking out of the ground. It was the one thrown at Ceras when she was running to her master. It looked different. But familiar. It wasn't one of his, but he had seen it recently. _Must be a weapon of that priest, _Raven thought. He picked up the blade, stuffed it in a spare sheathe in his coat, and walked away into the darkness.

As fire trucks and firemen were scattered about the neighborhood cleaning up the mess that Raven had made to get Alucards attention, and as ambulances and medical workers were running about looking for possible survivors, there was one man up high on a roof looking down upon the chaos. He had seen the entire fight from that spot, and even tried to help the hunter by getting rid of Alucards "underling". He stood there and chuckled to himself at these past events. _Raven, eh? Perhaps I could get to know him a little better. I have a feeling that we could be good friends._


	7. Chapter 7 Forgotten Emotions

Down, deep within the chambers in the basement of the Hellsing Organization's headquarters, there was a room behind a locked door. Inside this room there were a few items that made it different from every other room in the tunnels, even different from any other room in the mansion above. There was a table, with a single wineglass, a bottle of wine, and a pair of round glasses, with two chairs surrounding the table. On one of the chairs there was a red trench coat hanging over the back, and a red hat hanging over that. The one thing in this room, though, that made it unique, was _who_ was in it. This was the residence of the infamous vampire known as Alucard.

This poor soul was lying on his side on the bed, half crunched in a ball, feeling an emotion he had felt for the first time he could ever remember.

Fear.

A few stories upward, on the third floor of the mansion, Integra stood by the window of her office, staring out at nothing, like she has for the last couple of nights. It has seemed to become a habit of her lately. She stood there for hours, thinking about random things, worried about Alucard, until her thoughts were broken by a knocking at the door.

The door opened, and Walter stepped through. Integra had not summoned him for anything, which was why she was surprised to see him.

"Have you talked to him yet?" Walter asked, referring to Alucard. "He hasn't come out of that room for days."

"Is that what you have come to bug me about?" she asked, looking annoyed. "I will talk to him when he needs to be talked to. Right now, he needs a little time alone."

"Despite the fact that he isn't human, he still does have feelings. You would have to be blind to have not seen that by now, especially in Alucard's case." With that, Walter walked out of the room.

Integra knew exactly what he was talking about, although she would never admit it until hell freezes over twice. _Maybe he is right though_, she thought. _Maybe he has had enough time alone._

Elsewhere, down in the streets of London, Raven walked alone through the streets, with his hands in his coat pockets, and the wind blowing against him. He had just been walking aimlessly for days, getting to know the land well, for his next encounter with Alucard. He had never faced an opponent has skilled and powerful as this vampire, and he had never had to try a second time to capture or kill his prey. Alucard had been the first to ever get away.

This angered him in a way, but he was prepared for this situation. He knew well ahead that Alucard was a tougher opponent than anything he had ever faced. But he was still confident that he would be the first to defeat that monstrosity. After seeing Alucards performance in their first fight, he had no worry at all about the outcome of their next fight. Still, Alucard was not one to be taken lightly, and this was no time to be getting cocky. He had enough experience to realize that.

He continued on, until he sensed someone ahead of him. He broke his stride, stopped, and looked up at the only other person within sight of where he was.

It was the priest, in his usual gray robes, with his glasses shining slightly in the light of the sunset behind him. He was holding no weapon, but he could barely see a sword or two concealed in his gray trench coat. The tall priest had a slight grin on his face.

The priest kept his grin as he spoke. "You're after the vampire known as Alucard? I have a feeling we could really help each other out."

Walter walked through the chambers below the Hellsing mansion. _I'm not going to stand by and let Alucard suffer like this. If Integra won't help him, then I'll have to talk to him._

He finally made it to Alucards door, surprised to see Integra already standing there. "A change of mind? Or perhaps a change of heart?" Walter was half mocking her, and half expecting to actually get an answer.

"Not one word of this to anybody else." Integra used a firm voice, and had no need to use threats, because she knew Walter got the gist of it.

"Very well, I'll wait out here. Which was it? Mind, or heart?"

Integra didn't answer him. Instead, she unlocked Alucards door, and casually walked inside, closing the door behind her. Walter didn't expect a response anyway. He did not even bother to eavesdrop. He just stood there, until somebody came out of that room.

Raven stood, absolutely motionless, across the street from the priest, and heard his proposal. He finally learned that his name was Alexander Anderson, and that he was obsessed with the "purification" of all vampires, especially Alucard.

Ravens response came cold to Anderson. "A generous offer, but Alucard is my prey, and mine alone. I do not need assistance."

This angered Anderson. "I will be the one to destroy him! I have been trying since before you even knew who he was!"

"Try me. I've known about him for quite a long time. Probably since before you were even born." The hunter was calm, unlike the priest.

"That is far from the point! I've been fighting him for a lot longer than you have! All the battles I have fought against him! They will not be in vain!"

Raven seemed like he was ignoring the majority of what Anderson was saying. "That's my point exactly. You've had your chances. Too many, if I might say so. It's my turn to have him for a few rounds. And believe me, a few rounds is more than I'll need."

Anderson always had a quick temper. He couldn't take it anymore. He drew his swords, and prepared to attack the hunter for his arrogance.

Walter had waited for over thirty minutes now. Integra was still in there. He had bee practicing a few drills with the strings that pop out of his fingertips, whipping them around, the such.

After fifteen minutes more, the door opened up, and a frustrated-looking Integra walked out.

"There's no getting through to him. He's hard to talk to when he's overconfident, and he's hard to talk to when he's depressed. I can't stand him sometimes!" She walked down the passageway, and when she passed Walter, she stopped for a moment, saying: "If you want to talk to him, go right ahead. But I wouldn't expect any success, if I were you." With that, she continued down the hallway, soon out of sight.

Walter, turned and walked in the opposite direction from Integra, and made his way back to Alucards door.

Walter didn't bother to knock, because he already knew that Alucard would most likely not want to be disturbed at this point. If Integra couldn't get him moving again, Walter knew this would be quite a challenge for himself.

He opened the door, entered the room, and closed the door behind him. He didn't go anywhere from there. He just stood by the door, and faced Alucard.

After a long silence, Walter said: "Come on, old friend. This isn't how the great Alucard would deal with any problem." Even before saying this, he knew it wouldn't do any good to say it, but he had to open with something. Now, he just got straight to the point. "What is it that's _really_ bothering you?"

Alucard did not answer for a long while. He was still laying, muscle for muscle, in the same position he was in before Integra walked in on him. This didn't bode well for Walter.

After a long pause, Alucard actually spoke. "He actually had the potential to defeat me. Permanently. It's been a very long while since I've faced an opponent to be cautious around."

"That's not what the problem really is though, is it?" Walter had been on the battlefield with Alucard more than enough times to se past this part of him.

"No…I'm out of practice for situations like this. I haven't had to worry about anything in my life for what seems like an eternity."

"You're merely experiencing what everyone else does. You're just overreacting into a nervous breakdown. It's only human for you to feel this way."

"I know. That's the problem right there. I'm not human. I'm far from human!" Alucard started to raise his voice slightly on his last sentence.

"Well, you're just going to have to accept it. The hunter is still out there, and he wants to finish the job. You're going to have to fight him again sooner or later, and right now, he's winning. The Alucard I know would be too stubborn to give another man a victory so easily."

This comment hit Alucard harder than his current depression. _He's right_, Alucard thought. _There's no way I'm gonna let a second-rate hunter like that ruin me this way! I've destroyed bigger scum than him. I am not going to fall. Especially not this way!_

Getting his thoughts together, Alucard casually sat up, hopped to his feet, grabbed his hat and his trench coat at the same time, and slipped them on. Grabbing his guns and sliding them into place in his coat, he said, "Thank you, Walter. You've always been a good friend."

Walter said nothing. He just smiled, and left the room. Alucard had not heard a comment like that from Alucard in ages. Behind him, he heard a loud, insane laugh from Alucards room.

He slowly walked down the hall, savoring the sound of Alucard's fading cackle. "Alucard. The one who does not perish," he said quietly to himself, smiling, as he continued down the hall.


End file.
